WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas
Struggling with what to do next? Need honest realtalk cause you're tired of the curated highlight reels on the socials? And want strategies to get out of your own way?
Your host, Elaine Lou Cartas, the oldest daughter of a Filipino immigrant, is an award-winning Business and Executive Career Coach for women of color and allies. Elaine is like you - she’s been fired, quit jobs, changed careers three times, and been in debt. Elaine’s success story? She’s always done what’s true to herself and wants you to know it’s possible too. She’s a former grassroots organizer and nonprofit fundraiser who raised $11 million.
LA Weekly awarded Elaine as the #1 Thought Leader in 2023, and MSN recognized her as the Best Leadership & Executive Coach in 2024. Elaine has online courses with LinkedIn, Duke, Brown, Penn and USC.
On the WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk® Podcast (formerly known as the Color Your Dreams podcast), Elaine reminds you that your definition of happiness in work and life can evolve. Elaine's podcast guests include team members, clients, friends, and even family members who discuss real challenges and how they honored their own voices. As a business owner and career leader, this podcast is here to help you overcome overwhelm, while protecting your peace. So bring your coffee, tea, or boba for some realtalk every other Thursday! @elainelou_ // www.elainelou.com
WOC and Allies: Business and Career Realtalk with Elaine Lou Cartas
16. Accessible Money & Advice for Your BIPOC Business with Accion Opportunity Fund
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Did you know there’s free money available to you?
There are options like funding, grants, and loans for BIPOC business owners and allies like you and me.
You don’t have to figure everything out on your own. If there are resources available to you, you should be leveraging them to grow your business and give back to your community. Big corporations do this all the time!
I've partnered up with Luis Ramos and Desha Elliott of the Accion Opportunity Fund to share some resources and tips to grow your mission-driven business.
Luis Ramos joined Accion Opportunity Fund as the Director of Business Advising in 2020. Throughout his career, Ramos has helped individuals in the United States and Central America build and grow their businesses by providing direct mentoring opportunities and educational resources.
Desha is a business advisor for Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF), the largest CDFI to provide a financial support system for small businesses that advance racial, gender, and economic justice for all.
If you want to find out what funding opportunities are available to you and how to access them, this episode is for you.
Show notes are always available at elainelou.com/podcast/16.
Resources Mentioned:
Accion Opportunity Fund’s Website: aofund.org
Small Business Development Centers (SBDC): https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/small-business-development-centers-sbdc
SOAR Fund: https://www.connect2capital.com/p/soar-fund/
Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation: https://laedc.org/
AOF’s Resource Library: https://aofund.org/resources/resource-library/
Follow @AOFundTweets on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AOFundTweets
Connect with Desha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdesha/
Where We Can Connect:
Apply to schedule a call to see if the Color Your Dreams Inner Circle is a good fit for you: https://elainelou.com/innercircle
Schedule a call with me: https://elainelou.com/call
Join my weekly Color Your Dreams Newsletter: http://elainelou.com/join
Follow Along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elainelou_
Follow Along on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamelainelou
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaineloucartas
